a question about fuel
 

hi all , my name is stephen and first post here......hold the pomp if you will*looks around and doesnt see a thing* mmmkay

ive never been a car guy, infact never owned a car even having driven for 17 years but im now in the market and ive always, lets say appreciated the look of volvos

so if i find a volvo in northern ireland thats within say +10-15% the price of another decent car then ill likely take it, currenlty looking at an 09 v50 se for 2500 but thats getting away from the point of my question

so here goes, i drive probably in the region of 5k-6k miles per year, what we use the car for is necessary but we dont use it a lot

should i only be looking at petrol cars because my the relatively low mileage per year or should i also be looking at diesel

or could i look at diesel if i drive a certain way

or am i looking at it completely wrong and if so please enlighten me

Hi and welcome, here on the mainland around 20k a year has been the marker for diesel.

A lot of people have diesel that don’t drive that sort of mileage hence the current backlash....

Diesels are not suited to short trips from cold if you drive 3 miles to work and back each day once in the morning once the evening diesel isn’t ideal. If you drive 30 miles once a week to visit relatives etc diesel can be ideal as you do the right sort of journey just not frequently.

If you are city driving petrol is generally better but no fossil fuel engine is ideal for city driving and short trips.

Problem is finding a petrol after 20 years of diesel being over sold...... there is a raft of options pre dpf diesel might suit better and lower annual mileage might mean a D5 peach of a motor is suitable, the 1.6D best avoided

For your kind of miles a petrol engine is probably the one to go for. Diesel engines have generally been more complex than petrol ones (turbocharging systems, EGR valves etc) up until very recently, and if you're looking at a V50 then anything other than a T5 is a 'standard' non turbo petrol. Less to go wrong, and not substantially enough extra fuel consumption to affect you at your kind of mileage, especially given the higher cost of diesel fuel.

Relative cost/performance benefits aside, with stricter emissions testing in the MOT set to come into force and the possibility of new regulations targeting diesel cars, I wouldn't want to risk being left holding the keys of a previous-generation used diesel car that could become worthless, or in the worst case scenario unroadworthy or banned from certain cities, overnight.

Hi and welcome

Have driven derv cars for years for many reasons, one of them being it means fewer trips to the pumps

thanks all for the info, looks like its petrol for me then

It really depends upon the type of miles you do.
I do about 6/7 k miles a year on my D5 xc 70. However, if the engine stats it's usually at least a 20 mile each way run to the nearest town for shopping or 90 miles each way to Cardiff to visit the grandkids, then twice a year at least it's 450 miles each way that visit the grandkids in Scotland.
For poping to the local garage shop for papers milk etc I use the landrover, being pre dpf it doesn't care about short runs, but even that gets a run to Cardiff once in a while. Amazing the difference 60 miles at motorway speeds makes to the old girl.

If the majority of your miles are short journeys then petrol is probably best but if you do regular longer runs, even 20 miles, diesel is defiantly an option and while maintenance may be slightly more a diesel will give you considerably more miles to the gallon.

Paul.

DPF (diesel particulate filter) is a real issue on low-mileage short rips.
If the car has one, with your profile I'd steer clear, as they are prone to clogging under those circumstances.
If the car DOESN'T have one, you could be avoiding DPF issues only to get collbered with more stringent testing and/or higher road tax purely to drive non-dpf cars to the scrapyard.
I'd go for a petrol.
It'll also be easier to sell on later, as old diesels aren't going to be easy to get rid of in a few years.
Unless the scientists and governments come up with a new bogeyman to scare us all with....since WW2 it seems governments ALWAYS have to have something to frighten the population with.
After WW2 it was the Red Peril...
Then Palestinian/middle eastern terrorists
Then it was petrol shortages and gas guzzlers
then global warming/CFCs and the ozone payer
then climate change, rising sea levels and the economy
now it's diesels and plastics, with a whiff of immigration and a return of middle eastern terrorists and Russia.

They ALWAYS want us in fear, so they can be seen to be protecting us from the thing that they created...

Read "State of Fear" by Michael Crichton. Eye opening, and thoroughly researched...

^^^ How to needlessly make a topic go off topic, you were doing well untill for no reason your tinfoil hat fell off.


Anyhoo, welcome to Stephan to these page. I like you only do 5-6k a year and I would always choose Petrol over diesel for all the reasons already given, diesel is designed to be a high mileage fuel. I opted for the 2006 2.4 V70. lower MPG then most and £500 a year for the 'car tax' but its a fun car to drive and very comfy. servicing is also pretty straight forward compared to a lot of modern cars (just don't blow any headlight bulbs)

Consider a petrol vehicle with LPG conversion. I pay 55p/litre so I get D5 running costs without any of the negative points of running a diesel.